Procreation

Wrinkling the Bedsheets

Seth is halfway up the Military Career track, and he’s hears his biological clock ticking. The family has a small savings, and another promotion for him is around the corner. He and Holly jointly decide: it’s time.

There are two ways to get a new bundle of joy. If you’re not keen on having your own, or you have two homosexual Sims, you’ll need to go to the phone and select the Services option, followed by Adoption Service. A social worker will arrive shortly, and allow you to choose the age and gender of your target. If a Sim kid has been removed from a household, there’s a chance you’ll get him or her if the age and gender sync up. Either way, after you make a selection, you’ll soon have a new family member.

Seth and Holly decide to do things the natural way. Because they both have the Family-Oriented trait, either one can use Special… > Family-Oriented… > Try For Baby to get things going. Otherwise, both Sims will have to use the Relax command on the bed, followed by Try For Baby. Using the Woo Hoo command is… uh… a practice round for things.

Sims’ moods play a factor here: if both Sims are happy, the chance for having a baby is extremely high. If one, or especially both, are in bad moods, they may Woo Hoo without a baby, or the action may be rejected outright without even trying. Seth and Holly want to be absolutely sure they have a baby, and their days off sync up. After a morning of a good breakfast, a couple showers, trips to the bathroom, and some dancing…

If it works—that is, if pregnancy does happen—you’ll usually get a single melodic line of “Rock a Bye Baby” as the Sims come out from under the sheets. It doesn’t always happen, and there are more sure signs later. I hear it this time, though we still don’t get visual confirmation until the next day…

All right, morning sickness! Woot!!!

…Er, sorry, didn’t mean to sound heartless there. This might be nine months of pure hell and discomfort for Holly, but at the end of the journey, she and Seth will have a beauty baby girl or boy.

Pregnancy

Well, not quite nine months, luckily. Gestation for Sims is only three in-game days, starting from the morning after conception. Or more simply, the baby will be born three days after the first sign of morning sickness.

During the pregnancy, Holly will suffer dramatic penalties to her Energy and Hunger needs, and will continue to have nausea throughout the days and nights. If at all possible, someone else (preferably the good-for-nothing jerkface husband who made her like this, of course) should do the majority of the work around the house, while Holly rests as much as possible. Like real-life, limited exercise is okay, but no one expects Holly to jog laps around the entire city or to do 400 reps on the weight bench.

Meanwhile, while pregnant, Holly will get time off work. Again, she uses this time to stay as rested and in as high a mood as possible. Nothing extremely bad will happen if this advice is ignored (The Sims 3 doesn’t simulate some of the real-life tragedies that can occur of the woman doesn’t take proper care of herself), but due to the speed of Need decay in the woman, she’ll need and deserve constant attention to keep her happy.

Eventually, it will be time for the baby to arrive. Holly and Seth drop what they’re doing and head over to the hospital ASAP, where Holly is in labor for roughly 2 to 3 game hours. Eventually, the baby (or babies!) will come, and you’ll get to name him or her.

A New Life

Welcome to Sunset Valley, Troy Schultz. May you lead a fortunate life!

Troy is born with one personality trait at random, though it is not based on any that the parents have. In this case, Troy is born with being Artistic. You as the player get to choose a second trait as well, anything you wish, though you cannot cancel the original personality choice. In other words, I can’t pick the Can’t Stand Art trait, as Troy’s Artistic trait prevents me from doing so. I declare him a Genius!

Once back home, Seth and Holly buy a crib and place it in the bedroom. After that, it’s pretty simple for them to keep track of the baby’s needs, now that you as the player can actually look at them for the first time in the series. Babies don’t have to worry about a Fun meter, but you’ll have to make sure the baby’s diaper gets changed (filling the Hygiene Need), and given a bottle to avoid hunger.

During the first day, Seth decides to skip out on work to help with Troy. When you no-call no-show to your job, your performance takes a hit and you don’t get your paycheck, but you’re not immediately fired. If you make it a habit, though, you’re finished… One occasional day now and then won’t kill you, especially when something important (like caring for Troy) is in the balance.

Troy naturally will wake up and cry whenever any of his moods hit critical, and his cry will wake up Holly or Seth even from a dead sleep. If the crying is ignored for too long of a period, Social Services may come along and take the baby (and any other children in the lot) away, removing them from the neighborhood pseudo-permanently. Seth and Holly also need to stay near the baby at all times, or at least have a babysitter on the premises if they leave. They can go a short distance away, such as across the street, but no farther without being required to call up a babysitter.